Swarmify is one of the peer assisted delivery vendors using the Data Channel. It adds their code to your WordPress site, making it augment CDNs by having viewers of the site assist each other in downloading the resources on your blog.

This one is similar to Bistri’s plugin. It enables configuring a private chat room and having site visitors join in.

Why is this important?

This should have been easy enough. Have a WordPress plugin for a WebRTC service. People will use it. Successful plugins are in the range of million downloads instead of a couple hundreds.

Something is wrong here, and it can be one of several things:

There is no value in simple click-to-call plugins in WordPress

There isn’t enough awareness to the need of WebRTC / real time communications for WordPress site owners

WebRTC is useless

Someone needs to crack this one to get WebRTC going in generic websites.

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Before you ask, I am not using any WordPress plugin on my website because I don’t need their functionality. My blog is about asynchronous communications – you can reach out to me through the contact page or just comment on posts. If you want to chat with me, you can use other social media options. I talk to people I meet through the blog using one of the many WebRTC options out there.

Comments

Correct. How many pages have you read and thought “I must speak to the author _now_”? I guess once a week – out of the (say) 500 sites you visit a week – so that’s less than .2% Now ask yourself how many of those 52 occasions last year were you in a time zone where it would be socially acceptable to call the page owner (considering their TZ) – let’s say 1/3rd at most – so that’s 16 occasions last year when you might have used a simple click to call. Now, eliminate all the occasions where you already have the author’s contact details in skype/phone contact list – I guess half – these you’ll use the pre-existing contact because it is easier, and they will know who you are too.

So I’m guessing there are a maximum of 8 occasions last year when you might plausibly have used a simple click-to-call on a wordpress site.

WebRTC is used for different site types and not only blogs. There are ecommerce and online communities built on top of WordPress. Such sites can make use of real time communications (click-2-call or otherwise).

I think that the current set of plugins hasn’t found the right use case to become popular or important to a specific WordPress niche.

> Now ask yourself how many of those 52 occasions last year were you in a time zone > where it would be socially acceptable to call the page owner (considering their TZ)

Well, that kind of functionality only makes sense when used with presence (you might remember, this thing which everyone called the new dialtone). Only show the call button if the page owner has decided to appear online.

“The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed” – William Gibson

Think about WordPress, more specifically the profile of the community it serves. Its the less technical end of the web development pool. The community exists because the platform is flexible, extensible and most importantly…easy to use.

IMHO, WebRTC is not yet far enough along the technology adoption curve to have an impact on the WordPress community.

Take a breath. WebRTC within WordPress is coming. The very existence of these plug-ins foretells such a future.

Disclosure – like yourself, I am a WordPress user. I have over time gone from using WordPress.com to self-hosting, and in so doing achieved some familiarity with the app and the community.

WebRTC is still an emerging technology and as such the word is not out yet oustide of our limited circle of WebRTC enthusiasts. Even HTML5 specialists think that WebRTC is not ready for prime time, because they didn’t get the word… Having a WordPress plugin is one thing, having the WordPress community to know about it is another. The good news is that the technology is now good enough with support on various web and mobile platforms, and WordPress developers are a prime target for easy to use and easy to implement plugins such as the ones proposed by Bistri, which by the way comes in two flavors: a click2call button for and Click2Conference button connected to Bistri Conference APIs

That;s where we think differently. WebRTC has a very vibrant ecosystem. Companies like WPEngine can raise 15M USD for their hosted service. Others such as Yoast can garner millions of plugin downloads and usage and then build a premium plugins as well as consultancy services around it.

If WebRTC is intended for the web, then WordPress is part of where it *should* be.

Thanks for the mention. You’re right when you said that there are only a few webrtc plugin on WordPress. To answer your inquires, here are a few things to remember: .

* “There is no value in simple click-to-call plugins in WordPress”. This is partially false. Click to call plugins are usefull for e-commerce owners or any company who want to win their customers’ trust and loyalty. Thanks to the WebRTC technology, customers can instantly start a conversation with an agent, and agents can be proactive and engage a conversation with their visitors. No plugin to install or download to make. It’s pretty important considering that customers look for an instant, personalized, free customer support.

*”There isn’t enough awareness to the need of WebRTC / real time communications for WordPress site owners”. I agree with you. WebRTC technology is a NEW cutting edge technology. Webrtc Technology is compatible with some browsers (like Opera, Firefox and Chrome), and it takes some time to expand its use to all browsers. But I really think we will arrive to this point sooner or later !

*”WebRTC is useless” : I will made the same answer here : Thanks to webRTC, people can easily establish a contact with a company. Some situations require face to face calls. Imagine in the medical field for example. Doctors and patients could save valuable time by discussing in face to face (but from their home/office). Of course it depends of the injuries and the cases, but I think there is quite a potential here.

Tsahi Levent-Levi thanks for the reply. Why do you say it’s not satisfying? Have you ever try a webRTC solution on your website?

I think that a webRTC solution is useful if companies make a proper use of the module and combine it with a behavioral targeting tool. To start a discussion with your customers at the right time is essential … Too early and your client will try to escape from you… Too late and he already left your site.

Just look at the WeSeeDo – WordPress plugin that brings you easily real-time video on your website/shop. WeSeeDo is fully integrated within your website/shop. Even full screen video is possible! WeSeeDo makes digital communication personally. WeSeeDo creates new online business opportunities and will increase your sales!